As we continue to develop an understanding of the Game Speed Assessment System we wanted to take some time to address our Levels and Specific Skills Breakdown Section (shown on the right).

First off, we use the scoring system described in the previous email to break down each specific test. The player is not scored on the test itself, but rather how their test compares to the best and worst scores we have seen in the test. This puts everyone on the same scoring system, and makes it easier to understand that 500 yds in the Soccer FITness Interval is not very good, as it only scores you about 300 points out of a possible 1000 points.

Second, we use 4 different Levels to describe quickly where each player ranks in each Skill or Category:

Comfort (less than 350 points)

Developing (between 350-550 points)

Emerging (between 550-850 points)

Peaking (over 850 points)

If you notice in your assessment (or the picture above on the right), we have highlighted in Red the Score and Blue the Level for each test within a specific category (the Skill Category is shown here). This shows you very quickly how you did on the test and identifies your areas of strength and weakness. The player shown here is in the Developing Level in terms of Skill. As you can see the player is in the Emerging Level in terms of Foundational Ball Control, but seems to have trouble in the Dribbling Category. This type of player is set up to be fast with a ball, but needs more repetition in controlling the ball at speed.

From a Speed/Quickness perspective the specific skills we test are:

Quick Feet

Soccer Speed/Agility

Soccer Speed with the Ball

Each skill is made up of multiple tests that are averaged to give you a score in points, and therefore identifies a developmental level (comfort, developing, emerging and peaking).

In the example (pictured here on the right), the player scored in the Peaking Level in the Quick Feet Category (938 points) and the Emerging Level in the Speed and Agility Category (816 points) which is a combination of the Speed Test and the Agility Test. These two scores put his Speed Average in a Peaking Level (even though his Quick Feet scores were in the Peaking Level). This example, shows how a player might look to develop some of his/her weaker areas within a category to boost his/her overall score.

This is also good for coaches to see what drills they might introduce into warm ups to boost overall team averages and bring the team ability to a higher level. For example, in this situation, a coach might want to include more drills that involve moving a ball (dribbling) instead of stationary (foundational) work with a ball, and introduce some of our Speed / Agility drills instead of focusing on Ladder Drills, Dot Drills and other Quick Feet Drills. Examples of the drills we use can be found all over this site in various posts.

Another reason this score may have been lower is the fact that this is a “Fitness” based assessment and the player may have been “too fatigued” to execute the drills efficiently. When you look at his or her scores in the Fitness Category you might see if their fitness level limited their ability to perform technical drills in a fatigued state.

The Complete SoccerFIT Training Program

Get access to our entire program: Stability/Plyos, Speed/Agility, Strength/Power, Skill and Fitness in an organized, video based manual that progresses you through our Comfort, Developing, Emerging and Peaking levels...
Click Here for Access!